Oroville Area Fishing and Outdoor Report 01 / 04 / 2017 By Craig Bentley 2017 Bass in winter mode on Lake Oroville, while the steelhead fishing on the open reach of the Feather River above Hwy 70 yields fair action for most knowledgeable anglers on New Years day, Sunday, January first. Lake Oroville The Lake elevation has risen four feet in the last week and is now 783 feet. The lake is coming up about six inches a day. The surface temperature is now 47 degrees. The water in the main body is stained with about three feet of visibility. Mudlines form off of main body points when there is significant wind. There is significantly more woody debris, stumps and logs showing on the lake now so boaters should use caution while running. The lower concrete launch ramps at Bidwell Canyon, Lime Saddle Marina and the Spillway are open. The Car-top boat access points are all closed to launching. Boater's may call the lake's Visitor Center at (530) 538-2219, to check the daily status of launch ramps that are open prior to making a trip up to the lake. Weather; continued cold temperatures with a chance of showers or rain through the week with a break on Friday, then rain continuing through Monday. Daytime high temperatures will be from 47 to 57 and overnight lows will be from 32, on Thursday night, to 49, Saturday night. Winds will be south to 8 mph and southeast or southwest to 15 mph with rains. Bass fishing is in wintertime mode on Lake Oroville. The bite has been slow with the runoff coming into the lake, cooling down water temperatures and making fishing tough. The weather didn't help the fishing last week, but bass are being caught off of main body points,
secondary drop-offs, steep walls and in the backs of some coves. Two anglers are catching 10 to 15 bass each, in a four to six hour session. A-rigs, skirted jigs and Senko's are catching bass up to 13-inches long, with most fish going 13-1/2 to14-1/2 inches, with a few up to 3-1/2 pounds. Spinner baits and crankbaits are taking bass near mudlines on main body points. Boating bass anglers are also working suspended fish with small swimbaits, jigs or tubes are finding fish between 20 & 40 feet deep. Skirted jigs on ballheads, Kastmaster and Hopkins Spoons are getting a few bass from the deeper water. There are a lot of small fish near the banks, with a few slot size fish showing also. Look for bass wherever warmer water is coming into the lake, in the backs of coves where the surrounding water is over 50 degrees. Drop-shoting small tubes or Keitech minnows, or fishing 5" Senkos, or Roboworms will catch bass. Lipless crankbaits like the Rattletrap were getting bit, both on the retrieve and the troll. Natural bait fish colors such as Baby bass, Shad and Bluegill catch bass. Earth tones, like watermelon, pumpkin, oxblood or brown are also good colors for your plastic baits. King salmon fishing has been good for any boaters that try trolling, however very few boats have been out. Boaters mooching anchovies have been taking some nice kings going 16-1/2" to 18-1/2", fishing near the dam in 75 feet of water. The salmon are eating baits at 60 to 75 feet deep for those anglers mooching. The main body of the lake has been uncrowded most days, with salmon fishing reports few and far between. The Dam, Spillway, Green Bridge, Bidwell Point, Potters Point and the "Slot" are all good areas to troll, although fish may be caught everywhere. Boaters are trolling lures down from 55 feet to the 75 foot mark to catch salmon. Watch for birds on bait and troll around until you find a good bait ball, then work the water around it. Blue, green or pearl UV,mini Hoochies tipped with small anchovy chunks are getting bit. Salmon may usually be caught while trolling over submerged islands or structure, along steep walls or along the face of the dam. The best tactic has been to find bait schools and troll your gear just under the bait. Berkley Power minnows, Apex lures or Hoochies-tipped with a piece of anchovy, rigged behind a medium sized dodger, may be trolled between 25 to 75 feet, at 1.9 to 2.2 mph. Smaller baits are working now with the pond smelt on the lake about 1-1/2 inches long. Diversion Pool Releases from Oroville Dam to the pool have been fluctuating as high as 5000 cfs, down to around 1350 cfs. The water is coming from the tunnels at Hyatt Powerhouse and the Kelly Ridge powerhouse. The water is stained with about three feet of visibility. A few trout and salmon may be active during the day with releases of water from the lake and some nice fish may be caught. Few if any anglers have been out here lately, so no recent reports have been available. Anglers cast and retrieving minnow imitations: soft plastics, stick baits, or spoons, or fish bait for the trout or salmon. Please note that DWR advises that flows can increase without notice and flows are subject to change throughout the day. No wading, swimming or floatation devices are allowed on this water above the buoy line that normally spans the pool, 100 yards below the spillway.
Thermalito Forebay No recent reports. Trout, salmon, bass, catfish and other species of rough-fish are present in the Forebay. Some transient trout and salmon that have moved down from the diversion pool to the South Forebay are occasionally caught on bait by patient anglers enjoying the solitude of this little used facility off of Grand Avenue. Thermalito Afterbay Pool elevation is 133 feet. The water coming in at Wilbur Road Bridge is 47 to 48 degrees and may warm up a little to the low-fifties in the late afternoon in the back coves. The water is stained murky green with about three feet of visibility near Wilbur Road and at the 162 bridge and below. Bass fishing has been slow at the Afterbay with the continued cool water. The water level is up to edges of the brush and tules. Largemouth were showing best along the western rock wall, near tules in deeper water with ledges and structure There's fish weighing 1-1/2 to 2 pounds and some to about 17." DFW planted 10,000 baby king salmon in the Afterbay last month and 36 spawned-out male steelhead last week near Wilbur Road access and boat ramp. None of these fish have been caught yet. Boating anglers have been using plastic swim baits to tempt bass chasing the 6 to 8 inch-long baby king salmon hiding in the rock on the walls. Anglers also cast purple, black and blue skirted jigs, Senko's, Roboworms, chartreuse or white colored- buzz, chatter and spinner baits in and along the rocks, brush piles or near green tules. Drop-shoting small 3.5 cm swim baits, plastic minnows or tubes, off the same areas will also work when conditions are right. Steelhead fishing has been dead slow for boaters with few trying. Bank fishing has been slow, however, there have been a few anglers fishing at the Wilbur Road canal. The report was that no fish are being caught among those anglers last week. Anglers fishing for steelhead should try pink or chartruese Gulp eggs, or Powerbait eggs with a nightcrawler or scented marshmallow, use a three to five-foot long leader and a sliding sinker setup, or cast soft baits or lures while bank fishing at the Afterbay. Boaters usually troll with minnow type lures or a threaded nightcrawler behind a dodger, or drift a flylined nightcrawler from the surface down to fifteen feet deep, along the west wall of the Afterbay, on the flats, or on the edges of the channels in front of the outlets, north of the Highway 162 bridge and the mouth of the inlet canal. Feather River Water releases to the river are now 800 cfs in the "Low flow" at Oroville, with 900 cfs being released from the Thermalito Afterbay Outlet, for a total 1700 cfs below the Outlet. The Gridley guage data showed 1567 cfs at the time of this writing, too low for safe powerboat operation of boats over eighteen feet in length and driftboats the better option on the river below the Thermalito Afterbay Outlet.
The water temperature is now 47 to 48 degrees at station FRA in the Low Flow. Below the Thermalito Afterbay Outlet at station FOW, the water temperature is 48 to 49 degrees. Water temperatures should dictate the type and speed of the angler's presentation to the fish. The water is slightly green in the Low Flow and below the Thermalito Afterbay Outlet, with two to three feet of visibility. Fishing for trout and steelhead in the upper "Low Flow", above Highway 70 opened Sunday, January first. About forty anglers were on the water last Sunday morning fishing for trout or steelhead. Fishing has been reported to be fair to good opening day, with a few steelhead up to five pounds caught. There are a fair number of adult steelhead over 20" present in the river now. Feather River Hatchery personnel reported the total of Steelhead returning to the hatchery so far this season is now close to 1,000 fish as of Wednesday last week. Fishing with eggs and egg imitations may continue to produce a few steelhead or trout, however be sure to try other baits or lures, as the salmon spawn is over. Fly fishers should also try Glo-bugs, Egg patterns, Troutbeads, Caddis, Mayfly, or Fry patterns, black, purple, orcerise Articulated Leeches, olive, brown, or black Wooley Buggers. For indicator fishing try Troutbeads, Glo-bugs-in size 8-10, or attractor nymph followed by a size 16 or 14 Birdsnests, Fox Poohpah, Prince Nymph, or Soft Hackle Emergers, in green, olive, or tan, also San Juan Worms, in red, bubblegum or tan. For the spinning or gear angler trying for trout or steelhead on the Feather, try side drifting nightcrawlers with a 4mm florescent red bead, or size 14 Corky, Glo-bugs, single eggs, small clusters of cured roe, Steelhead worms, Berkley Trout worms, or Micetails, on a sliding sinker setup, using a light slinky weight or pencil lead, Maribou jigs or pink worms under a float. Boat traffic on the river below the Hwy.162 Bridge has been light on weekdays. Most drift boaters fly fish nymphs or egg patterns under strike indicators, or swing wet flies or streamers when fishing for trout or steelhead in the Low Flow. Some boaters pull plugs or side drift from drift boats on un-crowded days on the low flow. * Please note that only hatchery trout (those fish under 16 inches) and hatchery steelhead may be taken from the Feather. Wild fish- (those with an adipose fin) must be released. The daily bag limit is 2 hatchery trout, or steelhead, with a maximum of 4 in possession for two days of fishing. * The Feather River, from above the Hwy 70 Bridge, upstream to the Table Mountain Bicycle Bridge in Oroville opened to fishing Jan. 1st, 2017 and remains open through July 15, 2017 for Steelhead. * Barbless hooks and a 2017 Steelhead Report Card are required. * The King salmon season closed Oct. 15th, for the water from the boat ramp above the Afterbay Outlet, downstream to 200 yards above the Live Oak boat ramp at Pennington Road. * Fishing for the king salmon is closed all year in the Low Flow above the Outlet. There is no allowance for any catch and release fishing that targets salmon when any water is closed to salmon fishing. * Below the Hwy 70 Bridge, the Feather River is open year around for steelhead, trout, bass, catfish and panfish. Check DFW regulations for species limits, gear restrictions and salmon regulations.
Oroville State Wildlife Area ponds will produce a few bass, bluegill and sunfish for anglers fishing the ponds near weed beds or stickups. Use creature baits, small chatter-baits, buzz baits, plastic worms, or nightcrawlers for bass and red worms or small flies and work them slowly for the bluegill or sunfish. Hunting * Ouail season opened Oct.I5 th. Hunters are seeing few birds, with rains keeping the birds roosting. * Balance of State Waterfowl season opened October 22nd, good shooting again last week in the rice fields. Hunting is better with storms last week. Birds are showing in the south unit of the wildlife area, where hunting is fair to good on days with inclement weather. * Pheasant season and the Second half of Dove season closed Dec. 24 th. * Shotgun or Bow only, non-lead only slugs/projectiles for shotguns in the Oroville Wildlife Area * Steel shot only in State Wildlife Areas or Ecological Reserves. * No Pistols or Rifles are allowed on the Oroville Wildlife Area. * See regulations regarding Hunting and area use at Ca. Dept. Fish and Wildlife, www.dfw.ca.gov/regulations